UNC

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday, January 22, 2005

Two weeks ago, I wrote of the importance of valuing, using and protecting our local water supply. Although the OWASA system provides an abundance of fresh, high-quality water, its vulnerability was apparent during the drought of 2002 when water supplies fell to a harrowing 30 percent of reservoir capacity.

Spurred in part by that experience, OWASA and UNC last year began planning for a water reuse system to meet a significant part of the university's nonpotable water needs. This will involve the reclamation and reuse of highly treated wastewater from the Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant. Much of that water will be channeled toward the university's chiller plants and perhaps ultimately to the cogeneration plant.

When the project comes online in 2007, it will initially reduce water demand by 10 percent. At build-out, the reduction will be 15 percent. This is equivalent to expanding the water supply that much.

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday, December 18, 2004

Two weeks ago, the International Worker Justice Campaign and UE-150, the N.C. Public Service Workers Union, sponsored a public hearing on the need for collective bargaining rights for public sector employees. The testimony at that event, from numerous university and Chapel Hill employees, was unsettling to say the least.

It has been pretty well established that certain blue collar job categories both at UNC and with the town have historically had a disproportionate number of African-American workers. These workers have suffered under difficult working conditions, poor pay, discriminatory promotion policies and grievance procedures that are often stacked against them.

Those were some of the topics discussed by workers at the recent hearing. Particularly harrowing were the descriptions of the effect of some of the chemicals that cleaning crews are required to use at the hospital. Exposure to these chemicals has caused respiratory problems, nosebleeds and other health problems. Some workers were coughing up blood.

UNC is updating the Campus Master Plan. This update seems to be hapenning rather quietly, considering its great importance. ("Quiet" meaning I haven't seen any publicity or listings and can't find any information about it online.) The Master Plan is an internal document UNC uses to guide its growth, and as such it has no formal connection to the Town. However, it is often cited by UNC as a justification when requesting Town approval for various development projects, so it is involved in most of the town-gown conversations about growth.